Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

mercurynews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 803 posts

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#11

Post by vntok »

corndoge wrote: post #3

> YouTube indicated that examples of the offending content in the video included the line: “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection.” > It also included the quote: “Trying to shape human behavior isn’t the same as following the actual science which tells us that cloth masks don’t work.” Regardless of what you think about YouTube's misinformation policy, I don't think this i…

The masks aren't there to prevent infection, they are there to limit transmission. They work just fine for this objective, which is why the video was indeed spreading misinformation.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#12

Post by vntok »

endisneigh wrote: post #5

So if Rand Paul is democratically elected and YouTube silences him, then in effect YouTube is silencing the population that elected Rand Paul. Furthermore (I can't see the video) - if he did indeed simply quote two peer-reviewed papers is it right to suspend him? As an exercise, which of the following statements are correct: 1. Gaiter masks will stop you from getting COVID-19 2. Surgical masks will stop you from gett…

He did not. Watch it.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#13

Post by gibba999 »

This seems exceptionally problematic.

I absolutely think everyone should use masks, but the science is clearly not in on the effectiveness of cloth masks. It's a valid area of discussion.

My own opinion is that everyone should use N95-equivalent masks, but others are entitled to their opinions too. We have democratic and civic processes to decide what should be mandated, what should be recommended, what should be discouraged, and what should be banned. Prerequisite to those is honest discussion.

What's more problematic is this doesn't even work. A good civic discussion convinces people. Simply shutting people up convinces no one.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#14

Post by aweiland »

endisneigh wrote: post #5

So if Rand Paul is democratically elected and YouTube silences him, then in effect YouTube is silencing the population that elected Rand Paul. Furthermore (I can't see the video) - if he did indeed simply quote two peer-reviewed papers is it right to suspend him? As an exercise, which of the following statements are correct: 1. Gaiter masks will stop you from getting COVID-19 2. Surgical masks will stop you from gett…

Totally silenced. A ban from YouTube comes with a ban from Fox News, NewsMax, Twitter, Facebook, newspapers, local TV stations...

/s

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#15

Post by thaumasiotes »

corndoge wrote: post #3

> YouTube indicated that examples of the offending content in the video included the line: “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection.” > It also included the quote: “Trying to shape human behavior isn’t the same as following the actual science which tells us that cloth masks don’t work.” Regardless of what you think about YouTube's misinformation policy, I don't think this i…

> Seeing platforms control the narrative to this extent is truly fascinating. I never thought it would be as overt as it is.

Remember the Hunter Biden's laptop story?

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#17

Post by endisneigh »

aweiland wrote: post #14
endisneigh wrote: post #5

So if Rand Paul is democratically elected and YouTube silences him, then in effect YouTube is silencing the population that elected Rand Paul. Furthermore (I can't see the video) - if he did indeed simply quote two peer-reviewed papers is it right to suspend him? As an exercise, which of the following statements are correct: 1. Gaiter masks will stop you from getting COVID-19 2. Surgical masks will stop you from gett…

Totally silenced. A ban from YouTube comes with a ban from Fox News, NewsMax, Twitter, Facebook, newspapers, local TV stations... /s

Who said anything about being totally silenced? Are you arguing that being banned from YouTube isn't the same as being silenced to some extent?

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#18

Post by contravariant »

corndoge wrote: post #3

> YouTube indicated that examples of the offending content in the video included the line: “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection.” > It also included the quote: “Trying to shape human behavior isn’t the same as following the actual science which tells us that cloth masks don’t work.” Regardless of what you think about YouTube's misinformation policy, I don't think this i…

I would ideally like a little more justification for those statements, but right now it's not even possible to check if the video had any.

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#19

Post by fighterpilot »

corndoge wrote: post #3

> YouTube indicated that examples of the offending content in the video included the line: “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection.” > It also included the quote: “Trying to shape human behavior isn’t the same as following the actual science which tells us that cloth masks don’t work.” Regardless of what you think about YouTube's misinformation policy, I don't think this i…

They don't work? This article is claiming otherwise:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8

Re: YouTube suspends Rand Paul for seven days

#20

Post by makomk »

corndoge wrote: post #3

> YouTube indicated that examples of the offending content in the video included the line: “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection.” > It also included the quote: “Trying to shape human behavior isn’t the same as following the actual science which tells us that cloth masks don’t work.” Regardless of what you think about YouTube's misinformation policy, I don't think this i…

Yeah, it really doesn't seem all that plausible that cloth masks do much at this point. Not only was there never good evidence for them working, the best ones only block something like 90% of virus-bearing particles. To put this in context current estimates seem to be that people infected with Delta produce 100-1000x the amount of virus that previous variants did; the effect of mask wearing is absolutely miniscule compared to that.
Post reply on HN